Named
for the Kansa Native American tribe, Kansas was home of a lot of
different Native American groups. It was such a battleground between
slaveholders and abolitionists, it was called Bleeding Kansas during
the Civil War.

Kansas
is known for agriculture, The Wizard of Oz, Brown v. Board of
Education, evolution hearings, the birth of Pastafarianism (aka the
Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster), cowboys, and of course
tornadoes.

Also,
Kansas is known for being flat. Supposedly, scientists determined
that Kansas is flatter than an IHOP pancake.

Luckily, flat can be
beautiful:

Now,
about that science-saying-Kansas-is-flatter-than-a-pancake thing.
Apparently, the “study” done by three scientists showed that the
pancake was 130 millimeters wide, and the relief (the difference
between the highest and lowest places on the pancake) was 2
millimeters. Now we have to compare the 130-to-2 ratio to Kansas: the
state is 644 kilometers wide, and so it would need to have a mountain
that is at least 9,908 meters tall in order to NOT be flatter than a
pancake. But the very highest mountain in the entire world, Mount
Everest, is only 8,848 meters tall. So – given the way the
scientists did the study – everywhere on Earth is actually flatter
than a pancake!

I
think it's wise to point out that the scientists WERE doing their
study with their tongues firmly in their cheeks!

Here are a couple of photos that show that Kansas is not, indeed, totally flat!

Did
you know...?

According
to multiple sources on the internet, it is illegal to hunt whales in
Kansas.

It's
probably really hard to break that law, since Kansas is as pretty
much as far from an ocean as you can get, in the U.S.! Kansas is the
very center of the “lower 48” states.

Apparently,
it is ALSO illegal to hunt whales in Nebraska and Oklahoma (two more
states with no contact with the ocean).

It
turns out, there is no specific mention of whales in those states'
laws. Instead, Kansas, like most states, has a law against hunting
threatened species. Quoting from Oklahoma's code, “'Threatened'
refers to any wildlife species or subspecies in the wild or in
captivity that, although not presently threatened with extinction,
are in such small numbers throughout their range that they may
become an endangered species within the foreseeable future or that
they may be endangered if their environment deteriorates.”

It
seems that someone realized that that could pertain to whales (there
are, in fact, very few whales in that state), and that someone
started the whole “it's illegal to hunt whales in Oklahoma”
thing, which of course soon spread to other states.

You
can't believe everything you read on the internet!

One more thing about Kansas...

I think that the Kansas City main library is one of the most interesting and beautiful libraries I've ever seen photos of...

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This site is designed to be a source of interesting articles for kids and a resource for teachers and parents (especially homeschool teacher/parents!). From world holidays to historical anniversaries, Every Day Is Special celebrates each and every day.